obama and stop making premature concessions for the tv cameras that only make the white house less likely to meet them halfway. is that the net result, dana? >> well, it is a crisis. it's a manmade crisis. it's not like some meteor is headed towards the earth. they set it up this way so there will be these massive tax increases and massive spending cuts, so they do need to -- they have made it to they need to act. the question is do you need an even larger crisis? do you need the economy to be in free fall to get these guys to take some action? unfortunately given the past record, that can't be ruled out. >> yeah. when it comes to cuts, especially on medicare, that whole conversation has to be had. here's what dick durbin said on "meet the press." >> i do believe there should be means testing. those of us with higher income and retirement should pay more. that could be part of the solution. but when you talk about raising the medicare eligibility age there's one key question. what happens to that early retiree. ? what about that gap in coverage between their workplace and medicare? >> jac